The Times of Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk was a district supervisor for the city of San Francisco. He was also a gay activist. In 1977 this was a very uncommon situation. In 2005 this is still far from common. He was the man of the time.

Harvey grew up in Woodmere, Long Island. He knew that he was homosexual at the age of 14 but did not come out until after college. His friends in highschool never suspected his homo-sexuality. He was said to be very well liked and fit it well. After college Harvey joined the navy. This was unexpected of his character but he seemed to enjoy it. When Harvey got out of the navy he began to get into theater. He then moved to San Francisco where he opened a film store. Harvey began to get very involved in the community, and politics. He often approached members of the city and asked spoke with them on their political views. He dubbed himself the Mayor of Castro st., where he held his business. In 1973 Harvey ran for mayor of San Francisco. He lost. This pattern repeated for 2 more years. In 1976 Harvey presented a plan to the city. It was called the district election plan. It allowed for people to run for smaller offices within cities. The plan was voted on, and agreed upon. The city was broken into 10 districts. In 1977 Harvey won the position of supervisor of district 5. The world was amazed. Not only had a gay man changed the form of government, he was elected into office.

While in office, Harvey made many advances for the community and for homosexual rights. He produced an idea known as the gay rights bill, making it illegal to fire a gay person for comming out. He presented this idea to the board of directors, and it was voted on. Everyone on the board voted in favor of the bill except for one district supervisor. Dan White, the supervisor for district 8. He was strongly apposed. He was so upset about the boards decision that he resigned. This left district 8 in a panic because they had no backup leader. Two weeks later Dan presented an apology and asked to regain his position as supervisor. The Governor of San Francisco decided that Dan would be given his position pending a district vote. The morning of the vote, Dan learned that he was probably not gonna be regain his position. His reaction was outrageous. He used a pistol. He fired 1 fatal shot into the chest of the Governor. He then walked down the hall into Harvey's office an fired the remaining 5 shots into the face of Harvey Milk. The nation was devastated.

Dan was caught 6 hours later, and served only 5 years in prison before he was paroled. In 1985 he committed suicide.

Harvey White was loved by many. He lead the country to great advances, and will always be appreciated.